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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Future of Kinect and Alternate Reality

Although a lot of brands (Microsoft, PlayStation, Layer) and trending websites promise a great Alternate Reality and 3D future. I am still full of doubt whether Alternate Reality will change our future in the upcoming 10 years.

When I visited the E3 in LA and ECTS twelve years ago in London there were already 'virtual reality' helmets with which you could walk through virtual worlds and play basic games. But the technique made us sick and to this day the technique still lags... It just doesn't work that well and doesn't really add that much to our real-life experience.

I recently saw this video review of Nelly Playz testing the Kinect Star Wars game and I have to agree with him...: What fun is to play with a light saber if you're not actually holding the light saber in your hands? In this particular case PlayStation Move has an advantage, because you are actually holding something in your hands that 'could be' a light saber. Also because thanks to the device (controller) in your hands the PlayStation system is able to detect distance and movement (Move) in a better way than Kinect can with just two camera's. I expect that if Xbox 720 comes with a 'surround'-camera system the recognition of movement, speed etc. will improve and so will the customer experience. I hope Microsoft is actually developing their Kinect 5.1 system behind the scenes as we speak.

According to the research below done by Ypulse millenials aren't that enthusiastic about AR either...

NEW YORK, NY February 1 -- Augmented reality (AR) has become the futuristic media of the moment, but many consumers, including young, tech-savvy Millennials, are having a hard time figuring it out. In fact, only 11% of high schoolers and collegians have ever used an AR app, according to Ypulse the leading authority on youth.

“During the holiday season, retailers like Macy’s and brands like Starbucks tried to get customers in the spirit with AR apps. They’re fun and clever, but as with QR codes, Millennials don’t always get the point,” says Melanie Shreffler, Ypulse’s editor-in-chief. “They need to see value in using AR to make the effort to download and use the apps.”

AR apps have to be interesting enough to get users to download them, and they also need to be engaging enough to get users to come back to the apps again and again. But mostly, they have to work right the first time. “Millennials love technology and like a challenge, but fighting with apps to get them to work like they’re supposed to isn’t their idea of fun,” says Shreffler. "If they become frustrated trying to use one AR app, it could negatively affect their opinion of augmented reality technology in general."

Among students who have used AR apps•34% think they’re easy and useful;•26% think they’re easy but not useful;•18% think they’re useful but not easy; and •9% think AR apps are neither useful nor easy to use.

More students think AR apps are easier to use than think QR codes (60% vs. 51%, respectively). According to Ypulse’s Shreffler, “That’s likely because brands and companies that offer the apps have devoted a fair bit of their promotional efforts to explaining how to use AR, whereas retailers seemed to slap QR codes everywhere in the hopes that shoppers would figure them out.”

AR- More Flash Than Substance: So far, Millennials’ impression of AR apps and QR codes is that they’re more flash than substance. Until the technological kinks get worked out and retailers and brands begin to employ AR and QR codes in ways that impact our day-to-day lives, they’ll remain a novelty.

Methodology: The data presented in this release were drawn from 1,300 interviews conducted among members of the SurveyU panel between May 20 and May 30, 2011 and 1,336 additional interviews conducted between December 8 and December 23, 2011.

Respondents were selected from among those who have registered to participate in surveys for SurveyU, a Ypulse-owned online research panel. Quotas were established based on gender, state, class year, and race. The data have been weighted using National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data to reflect the demographic composition of U.S. high school and college students.

Because the sample is based on those who initially self-selected for participation in the panel rather than a probability sample, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sample error, coverage error, and measurement error.